Seniors step up as Ohio stays tied for second in MAC
By Zach Swartz, Sports Editor
February 10, 2008 | 4:29 p.m.
Forward Leon Williams, who scored the final seven Bobcat points, put up his 11th double-double of the season as he scored 26 points and pulled down 15 rebounds while also going 14-17 from the free-throw line. Fellow senior Bubba Walther, who hit three three-pointers in a row at the end of the first half to keep the ‘Cats within five at the break, put up 13 points and three assists in 30 minutes of action.
Ohio made just 16 of 44 shots from the floor, but shot 11 more free throws than the Broncos. In the end, their efforts were enough to give the Bobcats their 10th straight home win and beat the overwhelming favorite to win the MAC West.
With the win, Ohio is tied for second place with Akron (17-6, 7-3 MAC) in the MAC East Division, a game behind Kent State (19-5, 8-2 MAC).
“We had a lot going against us,” Ohio coach Tim O’Shea said. “They’re an excellent team. Fortunately our seniors really stepped up. The home court fans were absolutely huge today. If this game was played in Kalamazoo, I’d be very surprised if [Western Michigan] didn’t come out with a 10 or 12-point win. Honestly, I don’t know how we won this game today. I really don’t. It says we won on here though, so I’ll believe it.”
The theme going into Saturday’s game was undoubtedly the battle between two of the premier big men in the MAC. The 6-foot-8-inch Williams, one of the front-runners in the MAC for Player of the Year, went up against fellow P.O.Y. front-runner Joe Reitz, who was a Second Team All-MAC selection for the 2006-2007 season. Reitz, who is fifth on the all-time Western Michigan scoring list with 1,589 career points and fourth all-time in rebounds with 865, was held to 12 points and nine rebounds by the Bobcat defense.
“[Williams] had a monster game, and I don't think that I played particularly well,” Reitz said. “I thought that their big guys, especially him, got offensive rebounds at key times, and down the stretch we didn't get enough stops or rebounds to win.”
Williams knew Reitz was going to be a tough matchup.
“As far as battling in the post, it's been like that for four years,” the Baltimore native said. “It’s been a battle of wars. I'm glad I pulled this one out.”
But Williams was not the only Bobcat who put up an impressive performance. Walther, who went 3-8 from beyond the arc and 5-11 overall, notched his first double-digit scoring game at home since he put up 22 points against Delaware on Dec. 8. His trio of long balls at the end of the first half gave the Bobcats the spark they needed to pull out a victory.
“[O’Shea] told me the other day after we struggled up against Eastern Michigan, ‘You have to be a zone buster. You’re a shooter.’ So I had that mind set. I think my shot at the end of the first half loosened them up so we could go inside to Leon,” Walther said.
Going inside to Williams has been the Bobcats’ lifeline all year long, and O’Shea credits his shooters, specifically Walther, for giving them the ability to do so, especially over the team’s last three games. In a 73-55 victory last Saturday at Northern Illinois, Ohio shot 40 percent from three-point land while Williams complemented with 20 points. Tuesday at Eastern Michigan, Williams was just 2-2 from the field with nine points, while the Bobcats’ hit just 26.9 percent of their three-point field goals. Ohio lost 63-56.
The Bobcats are 4-1 now against MAC West opponents, but they had to endure tough battles with Ball State, Eastern Michigan and now Western Michigan to achieve that record. O’Shea credits the similarity among teams in the MAC as a major contributor to why it has been so tough to face teams from the weaker division of the MAC.
“The talent differential between all of us [in the MAC] is so minimal,” O’Shea said. “That’s why we have so much parity, and that’s why teams find it so difficult to win on the road. The home court advantage, throw that into the mix, and talent seems pretty much equal, but the home team wins a lot.”
MAC teams have won only 24 percent of their road games in conference, and Ohio is one of only five schools (Akron, Kent State, Miami, and Western Michigan) to have multiple MAC road wins (at Buffalo and at Northern Illinois).
O’Shea also credits Ohio’s fan base as a major factor for its wins.
“It’s nice to have that collegiate atmosphere that we enjoy here, because when you turn on the TV and watch Duke or the Big 12 or any of these schools that you watch a lot on TV, I think our atmosphere here for college basketball is as good as any.”
The Bobcats will try to continue their winning ways this Wednesday, Feb. 13, at Toledo (7-14, 4-5 MAC) at 7 p.m.
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